SOMETIMES I AM recognition for it through UNESCO world heritage sites. Zimbabwe is by global standards a very small SUCH A “FLY PERSON”: country, for example the entire area fits into the state LITERALLY… of Texas in the United States of America, leaving plenty of unoccupied space. But within that small By Dorothy C Madamba space we have 5 recognised World Heritage Sites and 3 of them are in the Western Region where we also find the Natural History Museum of Bulawayo. From my brief encounter with the world heritage site nomination process, world heritage sites are nominated on the grounds of outstanding universal value in the categories of nature and culture. This is where the documentation and research by curators of both nature and culture is useful in informing these decisions. A fellow curator and I have identified insects that fall right in the middle of nature and culture and produce outstanding value worth preserving a site for. I just had to go off on a tangent to explain why the research work by curators in all fields is phenomenal in impacting global decisions. One of the pillars of my work as an entomologist is education, being able to interpret research findings and collections into presentations, publications and exhibitions. One of the questions that always pops up after I rant and rave about how insect biodiversity is Allow me some “bragging rights” during this important, is “What is the importance of Mosquitoes?” International Year of the fly, 2019! I work in the The answer I give is more about ecosystem balance and entomology department of the Natural History how the rest of biodiversity is suffering because of our Museum in Bulawayo and in every social circle impact on the environment and the human population where I introduce myself, I have had to explain that explosion increasing pressure on the environment. In entomology is the study of insects, to which the usual 2012, we displayed an exhibition called, “Malaria, a response is a quizzical face, probably questioning Challenge for Research” in the entomology gallery my mental stability. I always want to imagine they and the content of that display showed that infant already see me running around some bush somewhere mortality in Africa is rife and Malaria took credit chasing butterflies with a net. That is only the tip for 1 million infant deaths per year, meaning that of the iceberg compared to what an Entomologist channeling resources into studying the vectors and does. Most managerial staff at the Natural History pathogens of the disease is very important. That is Museum in Bulawayo are called Curators. A curator the importance of Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are in the by definition is a “keeper, custodian or conservator of order Diptera. Insects in this insect Order are true a collection of any kind” in the museum. Part of what flies with 2 wings (I pair –the forewings) and halters curators do is to document, conserve, interpret exhibit (reduced hindwings in the shape of clubs) for balance. and communicate on the national heritage that we are responsible for, pretty fly right? Back to using my bragging rights, Class Insecta is much more ubiquitous and diverse at the species level compared to other classes of other animals. For example, there are only a little over 21 000 known described species of mammals in the world, yet globally there about approximately 1 million insect species and counting….Hyperbole? Not at all. I think only bacteria can compete with insects on the basis of ubiquity. They are everywhere performing many unique ecosystem services and also being a menace in some instances. They are all classified into about 29 Orders which form different broad fields of study. Every fly person, like myself, is called a Dipterist as they study the order Diptera and there are quite a lot Zimbabwe as a nation is very rich in both Natural and of us. In 2018 I attended an International Congress Cultural heritage and we have received international of Dipterology in Namibia, the 9th session, and was amazed at the various research areas all to do with the fly, in fact the whole year 2019 was designated International Year of the Fly, at this conference. The intention was to celebrate flies and their role in nature and human society. That they are diverse, significant, and beautiful and they affect our lives. This celebration has seen a fly species highlighted for each month. The featured January Fly in the International Year of the Fly calendar by Steven A Marshall and Asheley Kirk-Spriggs was a nectar feeding Sylogaster species (Conopidae) from South Africa, referred to as the Needle tailed, thick headed fly. I’d guess it owes its addition to the calendar to its bizarre morphology as well as the trouble systematists have had placing it taxonomically. February featured a Helina species from the Muscidae family. This featured fly represents a very large genus that includes flies that have been recorded to be attracted to cadavers and hence important to forensic entomology. March had Fly pest questions and some suggested solutions. Fruit flies are often rampant in orchards much to the a beautiful photograph of two sparring male cactus dismay of farmers and so are common houseflies. flies, Chaetonerius allaudi (Giglio-Tos) family Most of the time I get questions on how to get rid Neriidae from Mauritius, besides being significant of pests, well I am not an expert or specialist in pest pollinators, I do not dispute that these two flies may management but can certainly lend an opinion on the have been thrown in there because they just looked few notes I have picked up along the way with regards unique and beautiful. The “May fly”, excuse the pun, to flies as a domestic problem. The housefly, Musca was a parasitic fly Trigonospila species of the family domestica, can be a nuisance in the home at times, the Tachinidae from South Africa, probably incorporated first line of defense is keeping clean dry counters and because they are known to parasitise on Lepidoptera an empty dry trash can. Some even go a step further (moths and butterflies), just to mention a few. If you and wipe those clean surfaces with white vinegar. do not appreciate the biodiversity and the significance by now then let me get into a little more detail. If you want to learn more or assist us with collection of flies please feel free to send us your questions and I am such a fly person because they perform a variety inquiries through our Facebook page @UNBOXING of ecosystem services such as pollination, nutrient ENTOMOLOGY or our Facebook group “Insects of cycling through their role in decomposition and their Zimbabwe”. relationship with bacteria. Flies are contributors in the field of entomophagy, yes edible flies! There is an emerging industry producing protein supplements Our fASCINATINg for manufacturing food products that are basically Golden orb-web and crushed black fly maggots. Fly maggots have also been useful in the medical field as disinfected maggots Hermit spiders have been used in wound debridement maggot therapy. This is where the maggots are introduces to a wound and held eat up the dead tissue. Contrary to popular belief, flies are very smart, always preening By Andrew Cowell themselves, unfortunately different species of flies happen to be vectors for different disease causing It was the very hot summer of 1962, when as a ten pathogens for example cholera and typhoid are caused year boy, I was in a garden at 17 J.M.M. Nkomo by Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella enterica bacteria Street belonging to Uncle Bertie, an old family respectively, which sometimes the flies help spread friend. I was fascinated by some large, scary looking around. Other vectors of diseases in both humans and web building spiders that inhabited the garden. They animals are horseflies, tsetse flies and mosquitoes. looked rather formidable with their gleaming 6mm With this section on epidemiology, I shall speak on fangs, quite visible to the naked eye, even from some behalf of the flies and say, don’t blame the messenger. distance. These spiders did not faze Uncle Bertie at We must learn to separate the vector from the actual all, he actually welcomed their presence, and called pathogen, flies are good. them “The gardener’s friend” because of the insects they ate, in many instances taking rather large prey. So welcome to the world of four species of related spiders – three large Golden orb spiders and one Hermit spider. They belong to the Araneomorphs (spiders with diaxial fangs working 180° to each other like a pair of tongs) found in the family Araneidae (Orb weavers). The Mygalomorphs, large hairy spiders rival the orb-web spiders in size, and they have fangs that strike downwards onto their prey and include the Baboon spiders, Trapdoor spiders, Purse web and Funnel-web spiders. Mygalomorphs are also long lived (up to 25years) compared to the Araneomorphs which only live for a year. There are 23 Golden orb-web spiders (Nephila) and four Hermit spiders (Nephilingis) worldwide occurring in the tropical and sub-tropical regions and of the four found in Zimbabwe the largest is The Red-legged Orb-web spider Nephila inaurata madagascariensis. The female has a body length of The Black-legged Orb-web spider, Nephila fenestrata, around 35-39mm and a leg-span of around 100mm. is the same size as the above but without the vivid Males are really small, about 5mm long with a 15mm colouring as the abdomen of the female is a lighter leg-span. brown with a single yellow band and small yellow spots. I have seen these occurring in large numbers in the hot dry areas of Mwenezi but are common throughout Zimbabwe. The Hermit spider, Nephilingis cruentata is smaller than the above with females about 20-24mm in length with leg-spans of 65mm. The legs are stripped black and yellow but they have no brushes on them and the overall colouring is brown with a yellow cephalothorax. Males are the same size as those of Nephila. This species is widespread throughout tropical Africa, but have only been recorded in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The three other species in this genus are found in the Islands off the coast of Africa – Reunion, Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius. Their webs are white not golden, with a retreat at the top. In Chipinge in 1996 the building I was working in was being renovated and I had to remove the Hermit spider that had made its web across the front door. I used a pair of garden gloves to do this and placed in on a nearby bush. It made no attempt to bite me, and bites from any of these species are rare and although they are considered harmless they still contain venom and should be treated with caution. Due to their large to very large size, these spiders Next in size, and the most commonly occuring, is the are able to tackle rather large prey that gets caught Banded-legged Orb-web spider, Nephila senegalensis in their webs, including birds, and there has been a annulata. Females are 25-29mm in length with a report of Nephila plumipes killing and eating a 50mm 80mm leg-span, and the legs are banded brown and brown tree snake in Australia in 2012. However, their yellow with black “brushes” on legs 1,2 and 4, and usual prey is normally a variety of flying insects such the abdomen is a very attractive black and yellow. as flies, beetles and grasshoppers. Males are 5mm in length and at least 6-8 of them live around the edge of the females web feeding off the Although the females variety of natural enemies smaller insects caught in her web. are formidable looking including birds and lizards spiders they have a and dragonflies will eat the smaller males. There is a certain moth larvae that Please allow your children 7 to 14 preys on their eggs, and as their egg sac contains 300- 3000 eggs this larvae can do considerable damage. In years to join us for the holiday camp Papua New Guinea Nephilia maculate, the Giant wood from the 28th to the 31st of August. spider, is a popular delicacy eaten by the local people, They will receive lessons as listed on thankfully this is a tradition not likely to happen here. the poster. Among the attendees, we As these spiders are common and occur in large areas will be looking for children to deliver of Africa they are not on the IUCN endangered list, opening speeches on these topics however we should still take care to conserve them during sessions of our 2020 youth and not unwittingly remove their webs as they play symposium which will be based on the an important part of in keeping insects under control. same themes. The pet trade in large spiders is growing; however as these spiders live for less than a year they do not make suitable pets like the Baboon spiders and their allies. And finally a note on their silk – this is incredibly strong, and can even be used for making certain garments. In 2006, in the USA, Simon Peers, a Textile designer, and Nicholas Godfrey, an Entrepreneur, caught a large number of the America species, Nephilia clavipes, and made a shawl that was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in 2009. In 2012, a cape manufactured from Nephilia silk was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Fisherman in the Indo-Pacific area take Nephila webs, make them into a ball which is then thrown in to the water, and as it unfolds is can catch fish. The golden colour of their webs is due to a chemical carotenous, xanthurenic acid and quinones and the spider is apparently able to adjust pigment intensity relative to the background light levels and colour, the range of special reflectance is specifically adapted to insect vision. I hope that this article has inspired you to learn about the fascinating world of spiders and that you will watch them rather that destroy their webs and the inhabitants. There is still so much we do not know about the spiders in this country and would like to invite you to visit the Arachnid department at the Natural History Museum for more information on these and others spiders. Mushroom Art Competition We would like to thank all those that participated in the Mushroom Art Competition. The Art work is still on display in the courtyard at the museum and will be there until the end of September. There were eleven schools in total that participated and over 10 adult entries as well. We have included some of the artwork in this newsletter and I am sure you will agree that there are some talented pupils. A special thanks to Ms Cathy Sharp for organising this competition and sponsoring many of the prizes and to Alliance Francąise for their assistance and sponsorship. Congratulations to all our winners 9-10 year old Real Life 1st Place Takudzwa Mukanya Whitestone School 2nd Place Ellie Rheam Whitestone School 3rd Place Murray Wenham Malilangwe Home School

9-10 year old Fantasy 1st Place Zack Greenland Carmel Junior School 2nd Place Cara Matimbe Petra Junior School 3rd Place Sasha Swanepoel Carmel Junior School

11-12 year old Real Life 1st Place Josh Saunders Malilangwe Home School 2nd Place Tinotenda Mupinga Masiyephambili Junior School 3rd Place Tinotenda Maphosa Milton Junior School Highly Commended Scoot Wenham Malilangwe Home School

11-12 year old Fantasy 1st Place Aaliyah Leher Carmel Junior School 2nd Place Kudzai Chapepa Carmel junior School 3rd Place Mbongeni Dube Milton Junior School Highly Commenced Anotidaishe Dube Masiyephambili Junior School

Senior 1st Place Nomatehemba Ncube Girl’s College 2nd Place Donnell Marufu Masiyephambili College 3rd Place Gloria Hoffman Titus College

Adult 1st Place Natalie Beukes 2nd Place Nkosikhona Nkomo 3rd Place Di Charsley